GARDAÍ ARE investigating the discovery of two mobile phones at a courtroom where John Gilligan (58) was defending himself on a charge of mobile phone possession at Portlaoise Prison.
Gardaí asked the judge to adjourn the case and cleared the room at about 12.10pm yesterday.
Two mobile phones were discovered during a subsequent search of the court and the defendant was returned to prison for lunch.
The Garda press office issued a statement saying, “During the sitting of a court case at Portlaoise District Court this morning, the 30th of March, 2010, the case was briefly suspended while a search of the courtroom was carried out. Two mobile phones were located and seized. The courtroom will be technically examined. The court resumed in a different courtroom. Investigations are ongoing and no one has been arrested in connection with the incident yet,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day Gilligan alleged in court that he was being “stitched up” and claimed the mobile phone discovered in his prison cell was planted.
He is charged with possessing a phone and Sim card at his cell in Portlaoise Prison on July 30th, 2008. The case continues today before Judge Gerard Haughton.
Speaking during yesterday’s sitting, Gilligan claimed he had no knowledge of the phone discovered in his cell.
He accused investigating officers of not complying with rules and regulations during the investigation of the case. Gilligan alleged one of the two Sim cards being produced as evidence “came into existence at a later stage”.
When asked if he knew about the phone in his cell, he replied, “the answer to that is no”.
Gilligan said his son had brought a Sim card to court to assist with the case.
He said he had hoped he could put it into the mobile to prove it worked on the Vodafone network, an issue which had been disputed during a previous sitting.
However, he was prevented from doing so after prosecution raised concerns that the Sim would override information already in the phone.
The prosecution instead accepted the phone would work with the Sim.
Gilligan claimed the case was processed in a “willy nilly” way and, while he said a single case of non-compliance by the authorities “wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans”, he claimed there were numerous examples of mistakes by officers dealing with his case.